Covid measures – Astra employees tweet against “vaccine sheep”, politicians and the media

He posts at least one tweet every hour, and currently almost only on one topic: the federal government’s Covid policy, which he believes is wrong. He railed against “vaccination sheep”, “mask fetishists”, “fearful politicians” and “media outbidding themselves in panic and hysterical screeching”.

Timo S. makes no secret of his views: As an unvaccinated person, he feels bullied and comments on the pandemic development with malice and glee. For example the “breakthrough vaccination and mask success” in Ticino, “our Omikron room”, he writes, accompanied by laughing smileys. He comments on the media presence of the Lucerne health director with “blah blah blah” and writes in another tweet: “Fake always comes from the top.” Taskforce boss Tanja Stadler is asked to go “back to Germany”. Timo S. spreads it further.

The media are also getting off badly: the “Untruth Radio RSO”, the “Coronawahnreichs Propaganda Ministry” SRF. The “daily walk” must lead to the media, writes Timo S. – a call to action critics to march in front of media houses.

Others do the same. But what is remarkable about Timo S. is that he works in a leading position at the federal government – at the institution that he criticizes so vehemently. The 44-year-old ETH civil engineer is project manager at the Federal Roads Office (Astra). For example, he is currently responsible for building a safety tunnel on the motorway between Chur and San Bernardino, a 25 million project that will take over four years to build.

The Federal Personnel Office has set out how far federal employees are allowed to go on social media channels in the “Using Social Media” guidelines. Among other things, it says: “Do not publish any statements, comments or documents that could harm the federal administration.”

Timo S.’s tweets contradict this rule, as Benno Schmid, head of communications at Astra, said when asked by 20 Minuten. “We have made the employee aware that his statements bring his employer Bund and the Astra into disrepute and that this could possibly have consequences for him,” says Schmid.

The Twitter activities of Timo S. were not known to the Astra, he does so as a private person. Nevertheless, according to Schmid, he should be aware that his statements “stand in the field of tension between freedom of expression and duty of loyalty to the employer”.

When asked, Timo S. emphasizes that it is about his private expression of opinion. He was of the opinion that free, political, “sometimes critical and satirically provocative” expression of opinion should be possible and accepted regardless of one’s business position in Switzerland.

S. explains why he expressed himself publicly in this way: “As a non-vaccinated person, I am marginalized from this society and feel it every day. Every day there is an avalanche of media articles accusing me of my decision. ” His Twitter comments are a protest against it. In doing so, he probably overreacted in the emotions. “I wouldn’t make certain statements with a little distance.” However, he has always strictly separated his professional and private life, and his professional activities have never been affected.

Timo S. is obviously a personality who polarizes – not only on Twitter, but also in his residential area in eastern Switzerland. There he ran for the Council of States in 2019, but received only a few votes. This as a non-party – shortly before, he had turned his back on the green liberals after they had disappointed him badly, as he told SRF radio. It was not the first attempt: S. had previously run for the regional and cantonal parliaments – likewise unsuccessful.

The passionate mountaineer is primarily interested in nature. Streams and rivers are the reason why he wants to get involved politically, he said in the 2019 election campaign. When asked which party he would politicize in if he were not non-party, he replied: with the green liberals or the SP.